The National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products said Thursday that experiments on the use of therapeutic cannabis in France will begin "in a few days".

An operation largely supervised by trained health personnel and limited to certain patients. 

This is a first in France.

Cannabis will be tested for its medical benefits on patients.

The National Assembly gave the green light in 2019 for a life-size experiment on 3,000 patients lasting two years.

The first consultations to include patients in this operation, postponed by six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will begin "in a few days", according to the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM). 

An experiment reserved for certain patients

Eligible patients suffer from pain that is not relieved by other medications.

This particularly concerns people with multiple sclerosis, severe epilepsy or certain cancers.

Medical cannabis will also be used in palliative care.

The intake will be in the form of oil or dried flowers consumed by inhalation.

The levels of THC and CBD, the two psychoactive substances in cannabis, have been carefully tested beforehand.

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The first consultation must be done in one of the 200 reference centers, the list of which has not yet been made public, with patients either already followed in these specialized hospital services, or referred by their attending physician.

Subsequently, the prescription, of 28 days maximum, can be renewed by a general practitioner, trained and willing to participate in the project.

The patients will also benefit from five "long consultations", intended for the "collection of more advanced medical elements" on the tolerance and the effectiveness of the drugs. 

Specially trained health professionals

Patient safety and product quality are priorities.

Six pairs of supplier operators, selected in January, will distribute these cannabis-based drugs in the various internal pharmacies to the reference structures "initially".

In addition, "a register for the monitoring of patients is being set up", specifies Nathalie Richard, director of the project at the ANSM.

The doctors and pharmacists who will be required to deliver this therapeutic cannabis have already started a training "of two and a half years, at a distance, with compulsory validation", according to the general director of the ANSM, Christelle Ratignier-Carbonneil.

Medical cannabis "is something new, it is necessary to appropriate the conditions of use of this new drug to ensure that everything takes place under the best conditions", she underlines.

She insists on the "supervised and secure" nature of this unprecedented experiment with a narcotic product which is otherwise illegal in France.

Cannabis for medical use is authorized in around 30 countries around the world.

In Europe, the Netherlands was a pioneer in 2003, followed by 22 out of 27 countries since.